Unfortunately for Estenson Racing’s Kolby Carlile, bad luck struck again at the 13th round of American Flat Track – the Black Hills Half-Mile. Clutch issues put Carlile behind the eight ball, but the defending AFT Singles champ overcame the bad start to score points in the championship with another top-10 finish during the Sturgis Rally.
The day was tough as a whole. It was a stacked AFT Singles class with the top 25 in qualifying separated by a mere .316 of a second. So although Carlile was unhappy with his qualifying performance in 22nd, he went into the evening program confident that it would be different when the lights went green. He went on to prove that with a charge through the pack to take the win in his Heat. That was harder to repeat as the night went on and his clutch woes continued.
He managed to finish fifth in his Semi, but his start in the Main really did him in. Carlile didn’t give in to the misfortune and fought his way back through pack to finish seventh. Now with a break coming up after two races in three days, Carlile and his crew look ahead to the Peoria TT with the aim to solve the issue and return to the top of the box.
Kolby Carlile – AFT Singles #1:
“Unfortunately, tonight was another one of those nights where luck wasn’t going our way. I didn’t qualify great, but I won my heat race after a pretty bad start and I felt good going into the rest of the night. We were having clutch issues all day, but it was the Main Event that really did me in. I had a good launch but then I hit the first line and I went back immediately. I’m pretty sure I was in 16th place coming down the back stretch on lap one. I couldn’t believe it. But I put my head down and put in 16 laps that I think could have won the race. I was able to make my way up to seventh on a technical track and riding through some heavy traffic. So overall I’m happy with today’s effort.
“The team, we had such a good motorcycle today, so it’s disappointing for me to not be able to put it on the box. But these issues happen. It’s racing. We’re going to put our heads down and figure this out for the Peoria TT so that we’ve got a good shot at getting off the line, because I know I can do the rest of the job.”
Catch the Black Hills Half-Mile on NBCSN, August 18 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
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